Cold and snow and ice can be a real pain in the tucchus. For parents with young kids, school is closed in more places around the US than EVER before.
I grew up amongst a privileged set in the NY suburbs where parents whisked kids away to warm places for winter vacations because “we need a break from the cold”. (For the record, I went to upstate NY to visit relatives.) Need vs want, right there in parent-speak. These parents became today’s retirees who identify as “snowbirds”, flying south for the winter.
Now I don’t mean to be unsympathetic for those who don’t enjoy winter. Less than a century ago, doctors would prescribe the “dry heat” of Arizona, or “sulfur baths” of Michigan to cure what ails you. Doctors’ orders for a change of climate was a thing. Seasonal affective disorder is a thing. Old bones, devastating slips and falls are a thing.
You know what else is a thing? Grit, resilience and character building. I’m here to advocate for winter.
Winter is shoveling, black ice and salt. Winter is quiet that sounds loud. Winter is angled sunlight that make sunny spots on the rug for pets to enjoy.
Winter is this glorious book that explores the good in the bleak.
Winter is holding space for sadness.
Winter is “a good cry“.
Winter is dealing with stuff you don’t want to deal with.
Winter is grief. And finding meaning in that grief.
Winter is sledding on a local hill. Followed up with hot chocolate that you earned.
Winter is hygge. Winter is skating on frozen ponds and homemade backyard rinks.
Winter is an afternoon blackout that leaves people running for candles, lighting fires, and sends kids outside to play because there’s no arguing about the PS5 when there’s no power.
Winter is a festival on a frozen lake. (If you click on one link, let’ this be that one.)
Winter is the season of grit, resilience and growth. Winter lets you see what you’re made of, and then helps you build another floor on that foundation. Winter is not a summer growth spurt that you can chart on a wall. It is inner spirit growth that you can’t see, but you feel and know. Winter growth is what you store up for the seasons of life when you need it.
Winter makes you stronger.
With love an snowflakes (the resilient kind),
Allison
